Our objective in making this film was something of a psychology experiment: We sought to capture people facing a difficult situation, to make a portrait of humans in doubt. Weve all seen actors playing doubt in fiction films, but we have few true images of the feeling in documentaries. To make them, we decided to put people in a situation powerful enough not to need any classic narrative framework. A high dive seemed like the perfect scenario.

Through an online advertisement, we found 67 people who had never been on a 10-meter (about 33 feet) diving tower before, and had never jumped from that high. We paid each of them the equivalent of about $30 to participate  which meant climbing up to the diving board and walking to its edge. We were as interested in the people who decided to climb back down as the ones jumping.

We filmed it all with six cameras and several microphones. It was important for us not to conceal the fact that this was an arranged situation, and thus we chose to show the microphones within the frame. Ultimately, about 70 percent of those who climbed did jump. We noticed that the presence of the camera as well as the social pressure (from those awaiting their turn beside the pool) pushed some of the participants to jump, which made their behavior even more interesting.

In our films, which we often call studies, we want to portray human behavior, rather than tell our own stories about it. We hope the result is a series of meaningful references, in the form of moving images. Ten Meter Tower may take place in Sweden, but we think it elucidates something essentially human, that transcends culture and origins. Overcoming our most cautious impulses with bravery unites all humankind. Its something that has shaped us through the ages.

I jumped off a number of towers and rappelled from helicopters in the Marine Corps. Absolutely not now. I do not care for heights but for some reason I had no problem with in while in service.
Who can forget Louganis hitting his head on the platform in 79?

I am a former swimmer / diver and have done platform and cliff diving (age 17-21 about), much higher, 20-30 meters, but the water was so deep that you could not see the bottom — abandoned Missouri stone quarries — which ironically helps some to not make it seem so high.

At pools with clear water 10 meters really seems like 15 meters into a hard looking pool floor. It definitely seems higher than it is to the water.

It has been years, but I could still get the fluttery feeling thinking about it watching this fun video.

It was the same thing as this movie at the great place we cliff dove from, especially at the really high cliffs with groups of mixed older high school and college people. People thought a lot about it before jumping. It was like serious golfers trying to decide how to hit a difficult lie in the rough. You wait patiently while they pick their club. Sometimes they just chip out to the fairway. It was no shame to climb back down sometimes.

It was interesting that even people who had dove many times before, would have bad days where they would climb up and could not dive or could not do a certain more risky dive on certain particular days when it just felt bad.

And I love the comment above by “stayathomemom” about “OK” being a universal word now! Great observation! The subtitles make this all the more fun and exotic, especially with that “OK” word thrown emphatically into the mix. Americanisms!

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